Kabul from Seah Sung.

Kabul is located in a strategically important position at the confluence of major lines of communication running north into Central Asia and south and west to the northern plains of India. In 1504 Kabul was captured by Babur, the founder of the Moghul Empire and was transformed into a thriving cultural centre while Timur Shah made it his capital in 1772. In the 19th century the British were engaged in conflicts with Afghanistan due to British fear of Russian encroachment on their Indian colony and internal divisions within Afghanistan. Kabul was occupied intermittently by the British in this period. This photograph was taken, c. 1879 by the Bengal Sappers and Miners, an engineering arm of the Indian Army during the course of the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80).